Video may have killed the radio star, but — at least in the case of Tracy + the Plastics — it’s also brought a new kind of star to life. Entrenched in the kind of deliriously bubbly retro post-punk that’s been taken up by Le Tigre, Tracy and her "group" — a synthesized backing band whose members appear and interact with the singer via video monitors — are the rare nifty art project that works just as well as blissed-out rock and roll. They’re at AS220 (401-831-9327) in Providence on Sunday — on a bill that includes Mary Timony — and at the Milky Way (617-524-3740) in Jamaica Plain on Monday. Also, our two favorite new-wave revivalists are on tour together. That would be No Doubt, who finally won our hearts with the best Blondie album of the ’90s, Rock Steady (Interscope), and the Faint, whose 1999 Blank Wave Arcade made Depeche Mode safe for hardcore kids, even if their new Danse Macabre (both Saddle Creek) goes a little heavy on the smudged eyeliner. On Monday both bands are at Tsongas Arena (978-848-6900) in Lowell for a sold-out show, but you can still catch the Faint headlining the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge on Tuesday.

We were flabbergasted to learn that the prophetic arena-metal genius Andrew W.K. — of "Party Hard" fame — has been added to this year’s OzzFest. We still maintain he’s the Iggy of our generation. And tonight (Thursday, April 11) he’s back with an MTV-sponsored OzzFest preview also featuring Lostprophets and Apex Theory at the Paradise (617-423-NEXT) in Boston; the same bill hits the Webster Theater (860-525-5553) in Hartford on Saturday. In other OzzFest rock, Rob Zombie plays the Central Maine Civic Center (207-783-2009) in Lewiston on Sunday and the Palladium (800-477-6849) in Worcester on Tuesday and Wednesday. New-metal grrrls Kittie — now down to two original members — and industro-metal kids Flaw hit Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence tonight and Karma (617-421-9595) in Boston on Friday.

Friends-of-Radiohead the Beta Band are at Avalon (617-423-NEXT) on Friday and at the Higher Ground (802-654-8888) in Winooski, Vermont, on Saturday. The "Adrenaline" tour featuring bomb-throwing indie hip-hop sensations the Coup and turntablist masterminds the X-ecutioners arrives at Toad’s Place (203-624-8623) in New Haven on Monday and at Lupo’s on Wednesday; it’ll also hit the Higher Ground next Friday, April 19, and Axis (617-262-2437) in Boston next Saturday. And perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised to see P. Diddy hosting TRL — after all, he’s currently on tour opening for ’N Sync, whose shows on Monday and Tuesday at the FleetCenter (617-931-2000) in Boston and next Friday at the Hartford Civic Center (860-241-4229) have yet to sell out.

Issue Date: April 4 - 11, 2002
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